Dust guard



Jan. 22, 1929.

- 1,700,034 w. E. EATON DUST GUARD Filed Feb. 16, 1925 Patented Jan. 22, 1929.

UNITED STATES 1,7,034 FFICE.

FIBRE COMPANY.

DUST GUARD.

Application filed February The present invention relates to an im provement in dust guards.

Dust guards for railway car axle boxes have been made of wood, of canvas, sheet metal and felt, and of canvas and felt, but Wooden dust guards are not durable, canvas dust guards are too expensive, and canvas and felt dust guards still more expensive. One of the prime requisites-0f a dust guard is that it shall be efficient in operation and inexpensive. A' hair felt dust guard reinforced with canvas has found some use, but the interstitial spaces of the felt are large and conduct an excess of oil upward to the axle by capillarity far in excess of need, and with the result of affording a coating of oil on the guard which affords a foundation for an ever increasinglayer of dust and dirt.

The object of the present invention is to produce a dust guard of sufficiently strong material to withstand the strains to which it is subjected, and at the'same time one which will not conduct so large a quantity of oil to the axle. To these ends the invention consists in the improved dust guard hereinafter described and particularly defined in the claim.

The accompanyin drawing illustrates the improved dust guarfi.

This dust guard is described as follows It consists of a piece of paper-like felt of the usual shape or any shape suitable for the purpose, having a body portion land the usual hole 2. The thickness of the body portion of the guard is such as to cause it to fit the dust guard recess of the axle box. The paperlike felt of which this dust guard is made may be paper felt having relatively small interstitial spaces With the capillary lifting power of the felt therefore correspondingly small. Its capacity to lift oil to the axle is also small, with the result that it will not accumulate the heavy layer of dust and dirt which the hair felt dust guard would hold.

For this purpose I prefer to use a felt consisting of paper stock fibre or leather scrap and aper stock fibres treated in the usual way 1n a heater and laid up in the usual manner in a paper-making machine to form a fibro-cellular aper-like felt; This type of material is to e distinguished from the'ordi nary or usual hard fibre board of commerce, which is non-compressible and non-absorbent.

The invention contemplates a waterproof ,which it should be the 16, 1923. Serial No. 619,5.

onwater-resistant felt. This may be accomplished by the precipitation of a normally insoluble compound with the fibres of the material in the presence of water and in the process of beating it. Or the felt may be waterproofed or made water-resistant by the use of an insoluble glue or glutinous matter in the beating engine, so that each fibre of the felt is finished with such material. Another method of waterproofing or making the felt water-resistant which is within the contemplation of the invention is to apply to each successive lamination of the wet stock as it is laid up on the making roll a glue or insoluble compound so that the resulting felt has distributed throughout its body the glue or insoluble compound for rendering it more or less water-resistant. Or the finished paperlike felt may be Waterproofed or rendered water-resistant b immersing or saturating the finished pro uct withany wax such .parafline or similar or equivalent waterproofing and stifiening material, after which the felt will be dried. I have found that waxes such as parafline are well suited to the purpose of water-proofin this paper-like felt and imparting to it t e' necessary and desirable qualities.

The water-proofing or the making of the felt water-resistant may be done in the process 'of beating up the materials of the felt preparatory to making the product, or further along in the process of making the felt at the time it is laid up in layers or laminaor'even after it-has been completely felt by treatment of the indeed, after the dust guards have beencut out of the felt. For example, a paper fibre felt may be cut into guards and then treated with Water-proofing or water-resistant material. i

The dust guard in use is not only subjected to the action of dust and resists the entrance of the latter into the axle box, but itis-also tions, made into a body of finished sheets, or,

subjected to the action of water which is 1 0 guard by the car wheel, and duty of the guard to shed to as great a degreeas possible. Therefore, the water-proofing\ of the guard enthrown on the hances its capacity to shed the water. In aiddition, the water-proofing of the guard reduces the interstitial spaces and reduces its capillary power to lift the oil by capillarity u to the axle and it thereby conduc'es tothe e cie ncy of the guard in" both these aspects. no

In addition, it is also to be noted that the paper felt dust guard water-proofed in this manner is stronger and Stiller and more durable than the unwater-proofed guard.

This dust uard may be made of a single integral thiciness of paper felt, orit may be made of a plurality of layers of such material united together by any suitable means, such as stitching or riveting.

It will be evident from the foregoing that according to the present invention a paperlike felt, which is normally soft and structurally weak as compared with the hard fibreboard of commerce, is treated with an agent which Waterproofs and incidentally reduces the oil-lifting capacitymf-the felt, this agent in addition strengthening the material of theguard structurally, and, otherwise imroving the characteristics of the material or dust guard use. Wax is well suited for this purpose, and may be applied for the purpose of impregnation in the manner previously set forth. Such a guard, due to the fact that the laminations of which the body is formed are of uniform characteristics comprising structurally weak,paper-like felt stiffened through treatment, is economical in cost and may be produced in quantity with great uniformity. The performance and life of this guard, however, are comparable or superior.

to prior guards having a measurably greater cost of production. Due to these superior qualities and measurably lower cost, the present typeof guard presents a marked saving to the railroad users.

Having thus described the invention,what is claimed is:

A dust guard for axle boxes consisting entirely of fibro-cellular paper-like felt, normally soft and structurally weak, stiffened and strengthened and of reduced interstitial spaces by being provided with water-proofing or water-resistant material distributed throughout the guard to make it semi-permeable, water-resistant and of reduced oil-lifting capacity.

WILLIAM E. EATON 

